Buoyed by a 42-32 victory over Franklin last Saturday, Bainbridge hopes to end its season with a winning record Friday night when it plays at Juanita at 7 p.m.
The game was scheduled for Bainbridge, but it was decided Tuesday to move the game to Juanita after vandals damaged the track surrounding Memorial Stadium.
Each team will bring a 5-4 record and a fourth-place finish in its respective confeence into the cross-over tournament game. Juanita defeated KingCo 3A rival Mercer Island 45-14 last weekend to advance to this Friday’s game.
“They like to throw but they’ve also got a good running attack,” BHS Çoach Andy Grimm said of Juanita. “They’re in a good division and it’ll be a tough game. But we’ll try to finish off the season with a win.”
Grimm said injuries and illnesses have hurt the Spartans in recent games. “Against Franklin we were missing five players who opened the season for us as starters,” he said. “We’ll get one back for Juanita, but we’re pretty banged up.”
The win over Franklin was a high-scoring affair, led by running backs Ross Cobb and Alex Johnson. Cobb set a new school record with 245 rushing yards on 22 carries, including touchdown runs of 25, 44 and 51 yards. For the season, the 165-pound senior has 1,209 yards on 132 carries (a 9.1 average per carry) and 14 touchdowns. Johnson, a junior, gained 121 yards on 20 carries, including TD runs of 3 and 1 yard.
The teams traded touchdowns in the first half, with the Spartans leading 21-14 at the break. Touchdowns by Cobb and Josh Peters, who scored on a 5-yard interception return early in the fourth quarter, gave the Spartans a 35-20 lead. But Franklin rallied with two scores (both extra-point kicks failed) to cut the deficit to 35-32.
Cobb put the game out of reach late in the quarter when he took a quick toss and outran the defenders for a 41-yard score.
“We had some lapses in our game defensively,” Grimm said, “but they had a quarterback with a strong arm and he got us a few times. But overall I have to credit the kids for playing hard – for not having a playoff game, just finishing the season off strong.”
Grimm said sophomore quarterback Carson Zajonc made his first start and is expected to start against “He (Zajonc) only threw one pass, going 0-for-1, but he managed the game well for us,” Grimm said.
Grimm’s son, Alec, also a sophomore, has been the Spartans’ starting center all season.
